Friday 7th August

This mornings 4 hour trip was a treat. The light wind conditions were lousy for sailing but a spotter’s delight; at times the water was like glass. We headed straight out to the island, hoping to spot a few seals still hauled out after the early morning low tide, but instead they were having a snooze in the water. There were multiple feeding events to both the South and West and on these longer trips we like to take advantage of being able to get a bit further offshore. As we got closer we could see the sky peppered with gannets, gulls and manx shearwaters, and beneath these were a pod of common dolphins and dispersed bluefin tuna feeding. Then another work up appeared further south, then another, and another – more common dolphins. The feeding slowly dispersed and the dolphins chose to interact with us, bow riding and surrounding the boat. The water was so clear you could see the dolphins spinning, chasing, dancing and rolling around one another 5-10 meters below the surface. After a couple of hours offshore, which had flown by with the dolphins, we headed further in shore in search of Risso’s dolphins and we were rewarded. Duncan spotted the first group down towards Land’s End and as we got closer more groups appeared up the coast. As we watched there were multiple individuals breaching clean out the water, showing off their magnificent size and agility. There were also a few “logging” or resting at the surface, notably a small calf.

The tide and conditions switched over lunch, and the afternoon passengers headed out into much more breeze which actually felt a little chilly! We found a few separate small pods of common dolphins though all of them were very quiet and restful. We also spotted two pods of porpoises and some grey seals, this time hauled out on the rocks. We had a treat at the end when we flew the spinnaker and had a magic carpet ride into the bay.